Even when he's not filming, Richard Gere knows how to do drama. In the wake of the deadly protests in Tibet, Gere, a longtime Tibet activist and friend of the Dalai Lama, made a splashy announcement. The Hollywood star declared that "if [the protests] are not handled correctly, yes, we should boycott [the Olympics]. Everyone should boycott."

Gere does have a point: the unrest in Tibet stems from years of brutal Chinese religious, economic and political repression. And well before Gere's statement, many other activists had called for a Games boycott, for myriad reasons....